Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

> Albuferon results: They don't look impressive to me. ANOTHER 48 weeks of interferon/riba Hell just to get 13%?<

Including all genotypes, the SVR rate was 21% for Albuferon vs 23% for Peg-Intron in the study I posted earlier (#msg-14373654). Of course, the blend of genotypes was probably somewhat different in these trials, so they’re not directly comparable.

The 13% SVR rate for geno-1 is somewhat impressive from a detached scientific standpoint, but I concur that it’s nothing to get excited about. In any case, second-line treatment is clearly not the focus of the Albuferon program (#msg-13781766).

>when they speak of "non-responders," are they speaking exclusively of patients who completed a prior 48-week course with a different interferon/riba regime, or, also including patients who did not complete the entire 48 weeks? ("non responders" are usually weeded out within 12 weeks, or are grouped in that class if they stop for other reasons, such as side-effects)<

It more than likely includes the latter group, excluding patients who discontinued for side effects.

>If they are including patients, who say did 8 weeks previously but stopped for whatever reason... well then that skews the Albuferon results…<

Yes—good observation. A full evaluation of second-line results has to include a precise specification of the patient pool.